Hello. I am fat. I have been fat from as young as I can remember, also from as young as I can remember, I have known that being fat is bad.

In our society, fat is seen as the worst thing you can be. Worse than being a bad tipper, worse than a kitten killer, worse than your racist grandmother. Why is this? Why is fat demonized? I was determined to find out!

I surveyed 100 people on their views on fatness and the results were incredibly interesting. 87% of people said fat folks should love their body but on the other hand 56% said “fat” was their least desirable body type. So, people can support their fat friend in theory, but being fat themselves? No thank you! The most desirable body types were “athletic” and “average”, coming in at 29.5% and 29.1% respectively.

When I asked what word respondents would associate with a fat body “unhealthy” came in top with 36.2% of the vote. Most people see a fat body and automatically presume it is unhealthy. When asked the same question about an “average” body, 40.6% said “healthy”.

The reality is however, that any body can be healthy or unhealthy. Science is continually proving that body weight and health are not correlated. And even if you are fat and unhealthy then you are still worthy as a human being! You do not owe health to anyone.

Society, and more specifically the diet industry, likes to tell us differently however, and keeps us on the diet rollercoaster for life, continually trying to change our bodies.

It’s time to start thinking differently about fat bodies!

What if we valued people, not by the number on the scale, but on the capacity of their hearts? What if we left our bias and judgements at the door and stopped being so scared of fat? Because I think it’s kinda fabulous.